Survivability study of a Water Cleaning Facility using Fluid Stochastic Petri Nets

This paper investigates the survivability of a water cleaning facility using Fluid Stochastic Petri Nets (FSPNs). Water cleaning facilities are responsible for providing drinking water to a specific district. The provided service is very important and makes such facilities belong to a nation's critical infrastructures. Therefore, such a facility should be able to recover in a timely manner after the occurrence of disasters. The use of FSPNs in survivability research is new and promising due to its general applicability. In this paper we model and analyze the survivability of of the last phases of the water cleaning process in a Dutch water company. Analysis results identify the weaknesses of the process and redundancy is suggested to improve the survivability

Perspectives on Women’s Higher Education Leadership from around the World

At this time in world history, numerous scholars have emphasized the importance of having greater diversity in leadership, and specifically having greater representation by women in leadership. In particular, providing women with greater access to higher education—and having role models for women in higher education leadership—has a beneficial ripple effect, given that postsecondary institutions shape the lives of future generations. Individuals, nations, and the world collectively pay a price when women are not given full opportunities to develop and contribute their talents by serving on senior-level leadership teams. This Special Issue, titled “Perspectives on Women’s Higher Education Leadership From Around the World,” offers an array of articles that present research findings from both qualitative and quantitative studies, along with narratives and best practices gleaned from the lived experiences of women in academic leadership from countries on four continents: the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, China, and Saudi Arabia. Taken together, these articles offer a helpful overview of the literature related to women in higher education leadership worldwide, thus addressing previous concerns that much of the research has too often taken a Western perspective that reflects inaccurate assumptions for other cultural contexts

N-Myc-induced metabolic rewiring creates novel therapeutic vulnerabilities in neuroblastoma

N-Myc is a transcription factor that is aberrantly expressed in many tumor types and is often correlated with poor patient prognosis. Recently, several lines of evidence pointed to the fact that oncogenic activation of Myc family proteins is concomitant with reprogramming of tumor cells to cope with an enhanced need for metabolites during cell growth. These adaptions are driven by the ability of Myc proteins to act as transcriptional amplifiers in a tissue-of-origin specific manner. Here, we describe the effects of N-Myc overexpression on metabolic reprogramming in neuroblastoma cells. Ectopic expression of N-Myc induced a glycolytic switch that was concomitant with enhanced sensitivity towards 2-deoxyglucose, an inhibitor of glycolysis. Moreover, global metabolic profiling revealed extensive alterations in the cellular metabolome resulting from overexpression of N-Myc. Limited supply with either of the two main carbon sources, glucose or glutamine, resulted in distinct shifts in steady-state metabolite levels and significant changes in glutathione metabolism. Interestingly, interference with glutamine-glutamate conversion preferentially blocked proliferation of N-Myc overexpressing cells, when glutamine levels were reduced. Thus, our study uncovered N-Myc induction and nutrient levels as important metabolic master switches in neuroblastoma cells and identified critical nodes that restrict tumor cell proliferation

Perturbed Rotations of a Rigid Body Close to the Lagrange Case under the Action of Unsteady Perturbation Torques

Perturbed rotations of a rigid body close to the Lagrange case under the action of perturbation torques slowly varying in time are investigated. Conditions are presented for the possibility of averaging the equations of motion with respect to the nutation angle and the averaged system of equations of motion is obtained. In the case of the rotational motion of the body in the linear-dissipative medium the numerical integration of the averaged system of equations is conducted

Molecular subgroups of medulloblastoma: an international meta-analysis of transcriptome, genetic aberrations, and clinical data of WNT, SHH, Group 3, and Group 4 medulloblastomas

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in childhood. Molecular studies from several groups around the world demonstrated that medulloblastoma is not one disease but comprises a collection of distinct molecular subgroups. However, all these studies reported on different numbers of subgroups. The current consensus is that there are only four core subgroups, which should be termed WNT, SHH, Group 3 and Group 4. Based on this, we performed a meta-analysis of all molecular and clinical data of 550 medulloblastomas brought together from seven independent studies. All cases were analyzed by gene expression profiling and for most cases SNP or array-CGH data were available. Data are presented for all medulloblastomas together and for each subgroup separately. For validation purposes, we compared the results of this meta-analysis with another large medulloblastoma cohort (n = 402) for which subgroup information was obtained by immunohistochemistry. Results from both cohorts are highly similar and show how distinct the molecular subtypes are with respect to their transcriptome, DNA copy-number aberrations, demographics, and survival. Results from these analyses will form the basis for prospective multi-center studies and will have an impact on how the different subgroups of medulloblastoma will be treated in the future

TNFR2 maintains adequate IL-12 production by dendritic cells in inflammatory responses by regulating endogenous TNF levels

Sepsis-induced immune reactions are reduced in TNF receptor 2 (TNFR2)-deficient mice as previously shown. In order to elucidate the underlying mechanisms, the functional integrity of myeloid cells of TNFR2-deficient mice was analyzed and compared to wild type (WT) mice. The capacity of dendritic cells to produce IL-12 was strongly impaired in TNF-deficient mice, mirroring impaired production of IL-12 by WT dendritic cells in sepsis or after LPS or TNF pre-treatment. In addition, TNFR2-deficient mice were refractory to LPS pre-treatment and also to hyper-sensitization by inactivated Propionibacterium acnes, indicating habituation to inflammatory stimuli by the immune response when TNFR2 is lacking. Constitutive expression of TNF mRNA in kidney, liver, spleen, colon and lung tissue, and the presence of soluble TNFR2 in urine of healthy WT mice supported the conclusion that TNF is continuously present in naïve mice and controlled by soluble TNFR2. In TNFR2-deficient mice endogenous TNF levels cannot be balanced and the continuous exposure to enhanced TNF levels impairs dendritic cell function. In conclusion, TNF pre-exposure suppresses secondary inflammatory reactions of myeloid cells; therefore, continuous control of endogenous TNF by soluble TNFR2 seems to be essential for the maintenance of adequate sensitivity to inflammatory stimuli

Molecular subgroups of medulloblastoma: the current consensus

Medulloblastoma, a small blue cell malignancy of the cerebellum, is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in pediatric oncology. Current mechanisms for clinical prognostication and stratification include clinical factors (age, presence of metastases, and extent of resection) as well as histological subgrouping (classic, desmoplastic, and large cell/anaplastic histology). Transcriptional profiling studies of medulloblastoma cohorts from several research groups around the globe have suggested the existence of multiple distinct molecular subgroups that differ in their demographics, transcriptomes, somatic genetic events, and clinical outcomes. Variations in the number, composition, and nature of the subgroups between studies brought about a consensus conference in Boston in the fall of 2010. Discussants at the conference came to a consensus that the evidence supported the existence of four main subgroups of medulloblastoma (Wnt, Shh, Group 3, and Group 4). Participants outlined the demographic, transcriptional, genetic, and clinical differences between the four subgroups. While it is anticipated that the molecular classification of medulloblastoma will continue to evolve and diversify in the future as larger cohorts are studied at greater depth, herein we outline the current consensus nomenclature, and the differences between the medulloblastoma subgroups

The RNA-Binding Protein Musashi1 Affects Medulloblastoma Growth via a Network of Cancer- Related Genes and Is an Indicator of Poor Prognosis

Musashi1 (Msi1) is a highly conserved RNA-binding protein that is required during the development of the nervous system. Msi1 has been characterized as a stem cell marker, controlling the balance between self-renewal and differentiation, and has also been implicated in tumorigenesis, being highly expressed in multiple tumor types. We analyzed Msi1 expression in a large cohort of medulloblastoma samples and found that Msi1 is highly expressed in tumor tissue compared with normal cerebellum. Notably, high Msi1 expression levels proved to be a sign of poor prognosis. Msi1 expression was determined to be particularly high in molecular subgroups 3 and 4 of medulloblastoma. We determined that Msi1 is required for tumorigenesis because inhibition of Msi1 expression by small-interfering RNAs reduced the growth of Daoy medulloblastoma cells in xenografts. To characterize the participation of Msi1 in medulloblastoma, we conducted different high-throughput analyses. Ribonucleoprotein immunoprecipitation followed by microarray analysis (RIP-chip) was used to identify mRNA species preferentially associated with Msi1 protein in Daoy cells. We also used cluster analysis to identify genes with similar or opposite expression patterns to Msi1 in our medulloblastoma cohort. A network study identified RAC1, CTGF, SDCBP, SRC, PRL, and SHC1 as major nodes of an Msi1-associated network. Our results suggest that Msi1 functions as a regulator of multiple processes in medulloblastoma formation and could become an important therapeutic target

Metastatic group 3 medulloblastoma is driven by PRUNE1 targeting NME1-TGF-β-OTX2-SNAIL via PTEN inhibition.

Genetic modifications during development of paediatric groups 3 and 4 medulloblastoma are responsible for their highly metastatic properties and poor patient survival rates. PRUNE1 is highly expressed in metastatic medulloblastoma group 3, which is characterized by TGF-β signalling activation, c-MYC amplification, and OTX2 expression. We describe the process of activation of the PRUNE1 signalling pathway that includes its binding to NME1, TGF-β activation, OTX2 upregulation, SNAIL (SNAI1) upregulation, and PTEN inhibition. The newly identified small molecule pyrimido-pyrimidine derivative AA7.1 enhances PRUNE1 degradation, inhibits this activation network, and augments PTEN expression. Both AA7.1 and a competitive permeable peptide that impairs PRUNE1/NME1 complex formation, impair tumour growth and metastatic dissemination in orthotopic xenograft models with a metastatic medulloblastoma group 3 cell line (D425-Med cells). Using whole exome sequencing technology in metastatic medulloblastoma primary tumour cells, we also define 23 common 'non-synonymous homozygous' deleterious gene variants as part of the protein molecular network of relevance for metastatic processes. This PRUNE1/TGF-β/OTX2/PTEN axis, together with the medulloblastoma-driver mutations, is of relevance for future rational and targeted therapies for metastatic medulloblastoma group 3